ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of punitive urban policies by focusing on the roles of the counter forces to exclusionary practices of revanchism. The exclusion of street vendors in Guangzhou was underpinned by the revanchist National Sanitary City (NSC) campaign, which proved difficult to operate due to the resistance of street vendors, who developed flexible, small-scale activism to maintain their livelihoods. The most prevalent strategy practised by street vendors is everyday non-violent resistance. Although the resistance of street vendors is the result of their autonomous initiatives to maintain a livelihood rather than an attempt to overturn the established rule, it presents unexpected challenges to the exclusionary practices. The national discourse of social harmony has driven local authorities to adopt an ambivalent policy approach, to mediate the tension between retaining an attractive city image and addressing the livelihoods of the urban poor in Chinese cities.
